Rule #72: You don't have to be right to write.
I was shuffling through all my college assignments and paper submissions, essays, et cetera, and stumbled upon my Popular Culture essay "The World of Weblogs". The point of my essay was that the Internet has given such power to people that the decision of what counts as literature, or what is published, is no longer in the hands of some patron and his printing-press, or any self-proclaimed editing guru. It doesn't belong to any governing power except your own mind and those buttons on your keyboard or phone.
So what's stopping you?
This "filterlessness" (as I like to call it) results in two things:
1. People who have great talent gone unnoticed are finally allowed to showcase their work or at least create an online portfolio of it. This can be shared amongst readers who like the genre in which they write, or for professional purposes. Beneficial? Very much!
2. A whole bunch of completely unreadable junk is now all over the Internet. Why unreadable? Because everything is written in SMS language, filled with a whole bunch of unrecognisable colloquial terms, an O.D. of slang, and I'm not even going to bother telling you what I think of the punctuation.
Let me rephrase: bcoz evrythng iz writtn lyk dis 4 all da ppls 2 reed if dey like small wrds n talk abt sum shit LOLZZZZ!!!111
From the point of view of a Literature student, to me even this overwhelming swarm of incomprehensible text is ground-breaking. This is today's de-canonisation of Literature, where all the norms and purposes of the establishment of the Literary Canon is completely broken. Now, Matthew Arnold, T.S. Eliot and the other elites are definitely rolling in their graves, but I highly doubt anyone outside the world of Literary Academics knows that or cares anymore! If you want to delve more into the canon, here you go: Western Canon.
I'm writing this because I know that I'm a part and product of this process, or rather this lack-of-process when it comes to publishing and publicising my work. Also, as an extension to my paper on weblogs and the deconstruction of everything the Canon stood for, the next part is the horde of social networking sites that are a big part of our lives. If blogs challenge language as we know it, then Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Pinterest, and all other networking sites challenge every a priori form of human communication.
I think this advancement and freedom is a gift. Of course, with freedom comes a flood of stupidity, but we all learnt that in college and should be quite accustomed to it by now, right?
So write.
And read.
And share.
And feel free from constraint of expression.
The choice is yours, and so is a big part of the Internet!
To add fuel to any fire I might have sparked, here's a list of catalysts and enablers I've found in my time of creativity:
1. Blog hosting websites: Blogger, Wordpress, Posterous - highest rated in my books
2. The Rag: They have seasonal issues and will publish your work in their digests and issues. They're very approachable and always ready to have a read.
3. NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month: Even though it's November, you can sign up any time, write a novel and clock your progress on the site. They hold live chats and online seminars that you can attend where writers and novelists from all over the world are ready to help you with your work.
4. About.me: It's got nothing to do with writing really, but if you're on a lot of social networking sites, you have a lot of blogs and online portfolios, it allows you to create a page with a simple http://about.me/xxxxxxx URL that makes it easy to recommend and even looks very professional and personal when shared. If you catch their running offer, they send home a free bunch of Moo visiting cards with your name and contact details. If you're outside the UK, you might have to pay for shipping, but that's about it. How cool is that?!
5. Some blogs that caught my eye, and that I now follow:
http://thecrackdmirror.blogspot.com/
http://tectonicshifts.blogspot.com/ These two belong to my mother, and she's one of the best.
http://magnoliadesigns.blogspot.com/ A personal favourite because of the craftiness of it all
http://fromaleftwing.blogspot.com/ An open-eyed eye-opener on sports, women, and women in sport
http://thesassyfork.blogspot.com/ Food and a good read about making it = heaven
http://scherezadeshroff.blogspot.in/ Le blog a la mode, with real fashion from a real person
I've chosen to write about writing because that's my biggest passion. I also paint, photograph, sing and play football, and there's so much more out there to give impetus to all that we can do. So I wish I could list other sites and spaces I've discovered, but in all honesty, I CAN'T!
I was shuffling through all my college assignments and paper submissions, essays, et cetera, and stumbled upon my Popular Culture essay "The World of Weblogs". The point of my essay was that the Internet has given such power to people that the decision of what counts as literature, or what is published, is no longer in the hands of some patron and his printing-press, or any self-proclaimed editing guru. It doesn't belong to any governing power except your own mind and those buttons on your keyboard or phone.
So what's stopping you?
This "filterlessness" (as I like to call it) results in two things:
1. People who have great talent gone unnoticed are finally allowed to showcase their work or at least create an online portfolio of it. This can be shared amongst readers who like the genre in which they write, or for professional purposes. Beneficial? Very much!
2. A whole bunch of completely unreadable junk is now all over the Internet. Why unreadable? Because everything is written in SMS language, filled with a whole bunch of unrecognisable colloquial terms, an O.D. of slang, and I'm not even going to bother telling you what I think of the punctuation.
Let me rephrase: bcoz evrythng iz writtn lyk dis 4 all da ppls 2 reed if dey like small wrds n talk abt sum shit LOLZZZZ!!!111
From the point of view of a Literature student, to me even this overwhelming swarm of incomprehensible text is ground-breaking. This is today's de-canonisation of Literature, where all the norms and purposes of the establishment of the Literary Canon is completely broken. Now, Matthew Arnold, T.S. Eliot and the other elites are definitely rolling in their graves, but I highly doubt anyone outside the world of Literary Academics knows that or cares anymore! If you want to delve more into the canon, here you go: Western Canon.
I'm writing this because I know that I'm a part and product of this process, or rather this lack-of-process when it comes to publishing and publicising my work. Also, as an extension to my paper on weblogs and the deconstruction of everything the Canon stood for, the next part is the horde of social networking sites that are a big part of our lives. If blogs challenge language as we know it, then Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Pinterest, and all other networking sites challenge every a priori form of human communication.
I think this advancement and freedom is a gift. Of course, with freedom comes a flood of stupidity, but we all learnt that in college and should be quite accustomed to it by now, right?
So write.
And read.
And share.
And feel free from constraint of expression.
The choice is yours, and so is a big part of the Internet!
To add fuel to any fire I might have sparked, here's a list of catalysts and enablers I've found in my time of creativity:
1. Blog hosting websites: Blogger, Wordpress, Posterous - highest rated in my books
2. The Rag: They have seasonal issues and will publish your work in their digests and issues. They're very approachable and always ready to have a read.
3. NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month: Even though it's November, you can sign up any time, write a novel and clock your progress on the site. They hold live chats and online seminars that you can attend where writers and novelists from all over the world are ready to help you with your work.
4. About.me: It's got nothing to do with writing really, but if you're on a lot of social networking sites, you have a lot of blogs and online portfolios, it allows you to create a page with a simple http://about.me/xxxxxxx URL that makes it easy to recommend and even looks very professional and personal when shared. If you catch their running offer, they send home a free bunch of Moo visiting cards with your name and contact details. If you're outside the UK, you might have to pay for shipping, but that's about it. How cool is that?!
5. Some blogs that caught my eye, and that I now follow:
http://thecrackdmirror.blogspot.com/
http://tectonicshifts.blogspot.com/ These two belong to my mother, and she's one of the best.
http://magnoliadesigns.blogspot.com/ A personal favourite because of the craftiness of it all
http://fromaleftwing.blogspot.com/ An open-eyed eye-opener on sports, women, and women in sport
http://thesassyfork.blogspot.com/ Food and a good read about making it = heaven
http://scherezadeshroff.blogspot.in/ Le blog a la mode, with real fashion from a real person
I've chosen to write about writing because that's my biggest passion. I also paint, photograph, sing and play football, and there's so much more out there to give impetus to all that we can do. So I wish I could list other sites and spaces I've discovered, but in all honesty, I CAN'T!
I think you use 'literature' very loosely in this post. I don't see how the internet and freedom of expression online has led to 'De-Canonisation Of Literature".
ReplyDeleteAnyhoo, you should check out Ray Bradbury's 'Zen In The Art of Writing' and Stephen King's 'On Writing' if you want to write about writing. But writing on writing requires solid credentials as a writer first, innit?
I guess one has to be very prolific and very disciplined to get to that stage. SO UPDATE THIS BLOG. Bye.
I checked your blog. I would not try to tell you how wonderful writer you are, as I am sure a lot of people must be doing it every minute. And honestly, more than your language its the way you express which I love. I am coming up with a start up. Its related to Fashion and Styling. They are all professional designers stylist, editor and few more. Please feel free if you would like to discuss it more to be a part of it. It'll be an honor for us!
ReplyDeleteCheers,